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Index / Search / Sporobolus airoides

§1 Plant

Sporobolus airoides (Torr.) Torr.

vernacular alkali sacaton — species · Poaceae

USDA
SPAI
GBIF
2704783
Rank
species
alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides)
Platephotograph · lonnyholmesCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Sporobolus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 259 counties across 16 states/territories
Legend Native · 259 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
Low
Fire
Medium
Salinity
High
Anaerobic
Medium
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-38 °F minimum
Frost-free days
136 min.
Precipitation
5–13 in/yr
pH range
6.6–9
Root depth
16 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
3 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Mid Summer
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
1,750,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Medium
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 259 counties across 16 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 9 N ▾
Colorado view state ↗ 29 N ▾
Idaho view state ↗ 11 N ▾
Kansas view state ↗ 28 N ▾
Missouri view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Montana view state ↗ 7 N ▾
Nebraska view state ↗ 13 N ▾
Nevada view state ↗ 10 N ▾
New Mexico view state ↗ 30 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 2 N ▾
North Dakota view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Oklahoma view state ↗ 17 N ▾
South Dakota view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Texas view state ↗ 58 N ▾
Utah view state ↗ 23 N ▾
Wyoming view state ↗ 18 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/SPAI ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2704783 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T13:12:28Z